The Doctor is In

Happy belated Moon Festival!  I hope you all had at least a bite or two of mooncake.  If you haven't, come see me.  Man's parents sent us home from our Moon Dinner with a box of 4...

We spent Sunday night at the in-laws' celebrating, eating mooncakes (and a delicious homecooked meal of course!), and chatting.  At some point, mama-in-law refers to the Old Man as 'Chinese Doctor'.  It was supposed to be an explanation of why he had two bottles XO instead of his usual one.

Which of course, was not really a sufficient answer, leading us into a winding tale of an Old Man story.  Someone he knew had been to so many doctors and tried many different medications but to no avail.  So he started bugging the Old Man.  In fact, while the Old Man was in Chinatown for his coffee, dimsum and gossip, this man plunked himself down into a chair at Old Man's table.  

As you well know, the Old Man's English is not that great, so this point in the story sounds a bit like this:  "He come up.  Sit at table.  I'm drink caffey.  Oh no. No sit here.  So I tell him.  Get away.  Get out my face. Goddaaamnyou."

Now, the Old Man once was a sailor and has definitely retained a fair amount of his bad habits, but I was somewhat amused by his choice in vernacular.  We ended up talking about the word "goddamnit."  Turns out, he thought it meant "get out of my face."

Which, to some extent I suppose, is true.

It took roughly 15 minutes to convey the true impact of both the phrase "goddamnit" and "God damn you."  Ended up with accepting some Chinese idiom or proverb that means "Die away from me."  Wishing death a distance seemed...close enough.

All in all, Old Man taught his friend "a new life" (read: lifestyle).  Normal blood pressure and a healthy bill of health encouraged the man to drop off a bottle of expensive "wine."  The only payment this doctor accepts.